| Born | October 18, 1697 (Venedig) |
| Died | 1768 (Venedig) |
| Nationality | Germany |
| Epochs | Rococo |
| Genre | Vedute, Landschaftsmalerei |
| Profession | Maler, Radierer, Zeichner |
| Family | Father: Bernardo Canal |
| Teacher | Bernardo Canal |
| Student | Bernardo Bellotto |
| Influenced by | Giovanni Paolo Pannini |
| Notable works | Der Hof der Steinmetzen (1725), Die Einfahrt zum Canal Grande (1730), View of the Bacino di San Marco from the Punta della Dogana (1743), Markusplatz mit Blick auf den Markusdom (1723), Empfang des französischen Gesandten in Venedig (1727) |
| Museums | National Gallery of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Yale Center for British Art, Saint Louis Art Museum, Princeton University Art Museum |
The cloth merchant Stefano Conti of Lucca knew what he wanted to buy in 1725: vedute by Luca Carlevarijs, painted views of Venice. His adviser, the painter Alessandro Marchesini, objected. A younger artist was working in Venice whose pictures resembled those of Carlevarijs, except that in them one could see the sun shine. The younger man was Giovanni Antonio Canal, soon known to everyone simply as Canaletto - son of the theatrical scenery painter Bernardo Canal, born in Venice on October 18, 1697. He trained under his father, painted stage sets with him in Rome in 1719 and 1720, and then turned his back on the theater - disheartened by the ruthlessness of playwrights, as an early biographer noted. From then on, his gaze was fixed on his own city; a citizen of the Republic of Venice became its painter of views.
Whether Marchesini was exaggerating can be judged from the “View of the Ducal Palace.” Seen from the water, the city lies in full light. The palace's pink patterned facade glows, the Campanile rises against the clouds, and gondolas cross the green basin, their oarsmen straining at the oars. The reverse prospect from land opens in the “View of the Basin of St. Mark and the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore from the Piazzetta to Venice.” Sailing ships lie in the basin beside the column bearing the Lion of Saint Mark, a market stall stands beneath a striped awning, a small dog rests on the paving stones, and gentlemen in red robes converse. Venice's feast days were also part of the offering. In “A Regatta on the Grand Canal,” red cloths hang from the palace windows, spectators and decorated ceremonial boats crowd both banks, and slender racing boats hurtle through the cleared center of the canal.
A market with laws of its own grew up around these pictures. In 1727, the Irish agent Owen McSwiney complained that Canal was a greedy fellow who could demand any price and keep his clients waiting; that same autumn, he raved that two new pictures painted on copper were the finest works the painter had ever created. The largest share of the business was secured by Joseph Smith, the future British consul in Venice. He coordinated the wishes of travelers on their Grand Tour, the great educational journey through Italy, and collected for himself until he owned some 50 paintings, around 150 drawings, and 15 etchings by his favorite artist.
Then the customers stopped coming. From 1740, the War of the Austrian Succession kept travelers away, and the painter took up the etching needle, a tool he had scarcely used before. He created just 33 etchings; 31 of them appeared after 1744 as a series dedicated to Smith, and its title stated the program quite openly - views, some based on real places, others invented. Venice's documentarian allowed himself to dream. In our collection, this art born of crisis has enjoyed a remarkable afterlife. It contains 466 works by Canaletto, and well over 170 of them derive from the etchings, many printed in black on ivory laid paper.
In 1746, Canaletto followed his clientele to London, where he remained for almost a decade. The city greeted him with a rumor that he was not the real Canaletto at all - for his nephew and pupil Bernardo Bellotto also traveled through Europe under the famous name. In 1749, the chronicler George Vertue noted that there was something dark or strange about the man as a whole. The accused responded with a newspaper advertisement inviting every gentleman to his house to inspect a newly completed view from St. James's Park. The collector Thomas Hollis commissioned six paintings, including the “Interior view of the Rotunda of Ranelagh in London,” one of the view painter's rare interiors. Chandeliers hang from long red cords beneath the shallow circular ceiling, visitors stroll around the ornamented central structure, and the musicians' gallery rises on the right. Canaletto also painted “A View of Walton Bridge” for Hollis in 1754. On the back of the painting, the artist recorded that he had painted this picture in London, for the first and last time, with the utmost care, for his highly esteemed patron - lines that read like a farewell to England. Since the picture was lined onto a new canvas in 1850, the note has remained hidden. The painter himself appears in the scene as a figure sketching.
In the mid-1750s, he returned to Venice for good. The local academy struggled to accept him. In January 1763, he failed the admission vote; in September, he was elected after all, and in 1765 he belatedly submitted his reception piece - a capriccio, of all things, an architecture born of the imagination, by the man who had spent his life measuring the real Venice. After his death in Venice in 1768, he left a modest estate - a small property holding and 28 unsold pictures in the studio. By then, Consul Smith had long since relinquished his collection; in 1762, more than 40 Canalettos, together with his library, had gone to King George III for a total of 20,000 pounds. The Royal Collection has held the world's largest collection of Canaletto's work ever since.
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| Born | October 18, 1697 (Venedig) |
| Died | 1768 (Venedig) |
| Nationality | Germany |
| Epochs | Rococo |
| Genre | Vedute, Landschaftsmalerei |
| Profession | Maler, Radierer, Zeichner |
| Family | Father: Bernardo Canal |
| Teacher | Bernardo Canal |
| Student | Bernardo Bellotto |
| Influenced by | Giovanni Paolo Pannini |
| Notable works | Der Hof der Steinmetzen (1725), Die Einfahrt zum Canal Grande (1730), View of the Bacino di San Marco from the Punta della Dogana (1743), Markusplatz mit Blick auf den Markusdom (1723), Empfang des französischen Gesandten in Venedig (1727) |
| Museums | National Gallery of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Yale Center for British Art, Saint Louis Art Museum, Princeton University Art Museum |
The cloth merchant Stefano Conti of Lucca knew what he wanted to buy in 1725: vedute by Luca Carlevarijs, painted views of Venice. His adviser, the painter Alessandro Marchesini, objected. A younger artist was working in Venice whose pictures resembled those of Carlevarijs, except that in them one could see the sun shine. The younger man was Giovanni Antonio Canal, soon known to everyone simply as Canaletto - son of the theatrical scenery painter Bernardo Canal, born in Venice on October 18, 1697. He trained under his father, painted stage sets with him in Rome in 1719 and 1720, and then turned his back on the theater - disheartened by the ruthlessness of playwrights, as an early biographer noted. From then on, his gaze was fixed on his own city; a citizen of the Republic of Venice became its painter of views.
Whether Marchesini was exaggerating can be judged from the “View of the Ducal Palace.” Seen from the water, the city lies in full light. The palace's pink patterned facade glows, the Campanile rises against the clouds, and gondolas cross the green basin, their oarsmen straining at the oars. The reverse prospect from land opens in the “View of the Basin of St. Mark and the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore from the Piazzetta to Venice.” Sailing ships lie in the basin beside the column bearing the Lion of Saint Mark, a market stall stands beneath a striped awning, a small dog rests on the paving stones, and gentlemen in red robes converse. Venice's feast days were also part of the offering. In “A Regatta on the Grand Canal,” red cloths hang from the palace windows, spectators and decorated ceremonial boats crowd both banks, and slender racing boats hurtle through the cleared center of the canal.
A market with laws of its own grew up around these pictures. In 1727, the Irish agent Owen McSwiney complained that Canal was a greedy fellow who could demand any price and keep his clients waiting; that same autumn, he raved that two new pictures painted on copper were the finest works the painter had ever created. The largest share of the business was secured by Joseph Smith, the future British consul in Venice. He coordinated the wishes of travelers on their Grand Tour, the great educational journey through Italy, and collected for himself until he owned some 50 paintings, around 150 drawings, and 15 etchings by his favorite artist.
Then the customers stopped coming. From 1740, the War of the Austrian Succession kept travelers away, and the painter took up the etching needle, a tool he had scarcely used before. He created just 33 etchings; 31 of them appeared after 1744 as a series dedicated to Smith, and its title stated the program quite openly - views, some based on real places, others invented. Venice's documentarian allowed himself to dream. In our collection, this art born of crisis has enjoyed a remarkable afterlife. It contains 466 works by Canaletto, and well over 170 of them derive from the etchings, many printed in black on ivory laid paper.
In 1746, Canaletto followed his clientele to London, where he remained for almost a decade. The city greeted him with a rumor that he was not the real Canaletto at all - for his nephew and pupil Bernardo Bellotto also traveled through Europe under the famous name. In 1749, the chronicler George Vertue noted that there was something dark or strange about the man as a whole. The accused responded with a newspaper advertisement inviting every gentleman to his house to inspect a newly completed view from St. James's Park. The collector Thomas Hollis commissioned six paintings, including the “Interior view of the Rotunda of Ranelagh in London,” one of the view painter's rare interiors. Chandeliers hang from long red cords beneath the shallow circular ceiling, visitors stroll around the ornamented central structure, and the musicians' gallery rises on the right. Canaletto also painted “A View of Walton Bridge” for Hollis in 1754. On the back of the painting, the artist recorded that he had painted this picture in London, for the first and last time, with the utmost care, for his highly esteemed patron - lines that read like a farewell to England. Since the picture was lined onto a new canvas in 1850, the note has remained hidden. The painter himself appears in the scene as a figure sketching.
In the mid-1750s, he returned to Venice for good. The local academy struggled to accept him. In January 1763, he failed the admission vote; in September, he was elected after all, and in 1765 he belatedly submitted his reception piece - a capriccio, of all things, an architecture born of the imagination, by the man who had spent his life measuring the real Venice. After his death in Venice in 1768, he left a modest estate - a small property holding and 28 unsold pictures in the studio. By then, Consul Smith had long since relinquished his collection; in 1762, more than 40 Canalettos, together with his library, had gone to King George III for a total of 20,000 pounds. The Royal Collection has held the world's largest collection of Canaletto's work ever since.